Cpr Group Seeks To Provide Care Everywhere

July 25, 1986|By Stacye Gem Simmerson of The Sentinel Staff

Each day at least one Central Floridian dies from a heart attack, drug overdose, drowning or auto accident. In less than 5 percent of the cases where a heart stops, there is someone nearby trained to revive victims through cardiopulmonary resuscitation, said Jef Walker, president of CPR for Citizens. If more people knew CPR fewer people would die needlessly, Walker said. CPR is a basic lifesaving technique that combines rescue breathing and chest compressions to keep blood flowing to vital organs until emergency help can restore the heart's beat.

CPR for Citizens, a local non-profit organization affiliated with the American Heart Association, teaches CPR techniques to students, police, restaurant and hotel personnel, church, neighborhood and business groups, and anyone who wants to learn.

Walker said the group has taught about 100,000 people CPR in Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties since 1976, but those trained represent only 11 percent of the population.

''We're advocating that about 25 percent learn it,'' he said.

When a community trains about 20 percent of its population in CPR, the area reaches a saturation point and someone trained probably will be near when a person needs help, Walker said.

Walker, who was an emergency medical technician from 1971 to 1975, said he has spent the past 15 years teaching others CPR because he knows ''what it's like to arrive on the scene and see people stand there not doing anything.''

It makes no difference how well trained or equipped paramedics are if the person dies before they arrive, he said.

Medical officials say that CPR alone saves few lives, but it helps sustain cardiac arrest victims until emergency help and equipment reach the scene.

Studies show that ''when CPR was begun less than four minutes from the moment of collapse, and advanced treatment by a mobile paramedic was begun within eight minutes, approximately 40 percent of the patients were discharged from the hospital,'' said Dr. Roger D. White, professor of anesthesiology at Mayo Medical School, Rochester, Minn.

White, who recently discussed CPR at a national convention on pre- hospital care in Orlando, said when CPR was not performed within four minutes of a cardiac arrest, even when professional emergency help arrived within eight minutes, the survival rate dropped to about 10 percent.

John Lasseter, an Orlando Fire Department paramedic, said there are potential risks in performing CPR, such as cracking ribs, but injuries are rare and the chance to save a life outweighs the chance of harm.

Most Central Floridians trained in CPR are younger than 40 and healthy, said Walker. ''But the single group that needs it the greatest are women between 50 and 75,'' because most heart attack victims are men between the ages of 50 and 75, Walker said.

The basic CPR course, Heartsaver, takes three hours and costs $5. CPR For Citizens also offers Babysaver and basic emergency rescue courses. Anyone interested can call the organization at 843-4277.